Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Where to move in/near Leeds

116 replies

longestlurkerever · 15/04/2020 16:01

Hello. I currently live in London though am a northerner by birth. Due to dh's chronic health conditions he may have to give up work for a while and we are considering a relocation to somewhere more affordable on one salary. I have the potential to relocate my job to Leeds and have a budget of about £600k for a 4 bedroom house (tbh I have no idea really about accuracy of this figure in future housing market but that would be ballpark figure based on recent market prices).

What areas would be good to look at? Priorities would be state schools for our 2 dds currently in y4 and reception - I think there are grammar schools in Leeds? Is that right? What kind of percentage of children end up at grammar school and what are the alternatives like?

It'd be nice to live somewhere with access to the countryside but with a reasonable commute to leeds central station - I think properly rural would be a bit of a shock to the system and dh doesn't drive, but it'd be nice for there to be some positive aspects to the move and where we currently live is a bit urban grit.

I have no real idea what I am looking for - I wouldn't be leaving where I currently live if circumstances weren't forcing my hand but trying to look on this as an opportunity/adventure. Please help get me excited, mumsnetters!

OP posts:
JayAlfredPrufrock · 15/04/2020 18:04

There have been several threads on this over the years. Do a search and you will get lots of options.

Original poster
longestlurkerever · 15/04/2020 18:45

I think that wharfedale line is probably what i am after. More central would be closer to what i am used to, but feels like a wasted opportunity in some ways, given that some of the more villagey places are still pretty well connected and within budget and clearly gorgeous and very desirable If I am truly honest though, and at risk of sounding like a bit of a twat, my only hesitation is whether Ilkley is quite me or if it's just a bit too posh and conservative? Is that fair or a figment of my imagination? where i live now in north London is a bit of a ridiculous bubble in many ways but i fit in here and feel at home.

OP posts:
legoqueen · 15/04/2020 19:02

Ilkley & the nearby villages are great places to live, good community feel & lovely independent shops & restaurants, lots going on for families, great schools & lovely countryside - but an easy rail commute to Leeds. London folk fit in just fine...there are a few here already Grin

Original poster
longestlurkerever · 15/04/2020 19:03

Haha good!

OP posts:
ranoutofquinoaandprosecco · 15/04/2020 19:08

I don't think Ilkley is posh. We've found it really inclusive and friendly.

Original poster
longestlurkerever · 15/04/2020 19:16

That's nice to hear. One thing drawing me to it is it has a lido! I love my lido. It's heated though....Grin. I think maybe a visit is in order.

OP posts:
ranoutofquinoaandprosecco · 15/04/2020 19:31

Lido is a bit crumbly but it's lovely. They do a solstice swim which is a bit surreal but great fun. Take a visit once the madness is over.

lastqueenofscotland · 15/04/2020 19:35

Hyde park is fucking hanging.

With that budget chapel allerton or horsforth

I knew someone who lived in Guisley and loved it but no idea how nice or not that actually is

Blossomgate · 15/04/2020 19:36

Depends how often you need to go into work and what emphasis you put on education.
North Yorkshire has fantastic grammar schools.
Ripon Grammar ( outstanding, mixed, includes state boarding) www.ripongrammar.co.uk

Ermysted's Grammar, Skipton ( boys)
www.ermysteds.co.uk/

Skipton Girls High School ( obv, single sex too).
www.sghs.org.uk/

Both more of a market town feel. Plenty to walk to. Ripon you would have to drive ( there is a direct bus that my NDN uses everyday - but a 90 mins ride, Skipton drive or train)

Kakfor · 15/04/2020 19:47

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Delatron · 15/04/2020 19:48

Guiseley isn’t as pretty as the other villages/towns mentioned but you can walk to shops and pubs etc. Has a leisure centre. Not as nice as Ilkley but you’d probably get more for your money. The Tranmere Park area of Guiseley is very nice.

I love Ilkley Lido! So many happy memories of summers there. Such a beautiful setting on the edge of the moors. It was freezing though 😂.

HavenDilemma · 15/04/2020 19:52

I live in Harrogate (born & raised) and we have some fabulous schools, including a grammar

If you'd like any advice or to ask anything at all, I'm happy to help

HavenDilemma · 15/04/2020 19:53

Knaresborough also has a Lido :) Beautiful historic town with a castle ruins & a river with boats, near Harrogate and crucially, right next to the A1 and close to York :)

HavenDilemma · 15/04/2020 19:54

This is Knaresborough

Where to move in/near Leeds
NeverTwerkNaked · 15/04/2020 19:55

The Wharfedale line was a fabulous place to grow up. You can easily get to Ilkley, Leeds and Bradford. Schools are good.

If you want a selective grammar school system then Skipton or I think Ripon would be your options but both are further out.

Ilkley isn't particularly posh, only relatively so compared to surrounding areas. The lido is fabulous but can get very busy.

HavenDilemma · 15/04/2020 19:55

(It's a lot bigger than it looks in that photo!)

Blossomgate · 15/04/2020 19:59

Haven - Harrogate Grammar is a grammar in name only - no 11+.

Ginfordinner · 15/04/2020 19:59

I used to live in Guiseley. Housing ranges from terraced housing to large detached houses in Tranmere Park. We have friends in Menston, which is really nice as well.

ranoutofquinoaandprosecco when I lived in Guiseley Ilkley was considered posh. It still is as far as I know. I live in South Yorkshire now, and folk round here think of Ilkley as posh.

HavenDilemma · 15/04/2020 20:01

@Aknifewith16blades What makes you say that transport is tricky in Harrogate?!
We have a bus station with, as it happens, the first all-electric buses in the country, going to Leeds, York, Wetherby, the airport, Otley, Knaresborough, Bradford, Pateley Bridge, Ilkley, Wharfedale etc
Along with a large train station and 2 further smaller stations either side of town. Plus several multi storey car parks and plenty of on-street parking Hmm

HermioneWeasley · 15/04/2020 20:02

Horsforth - 2 train stations and direct buses into town, dales are 20-30 mins away on A65. Excellent secondary school. Two thriving high streets.

HavenDilemma · 15/04/2020 20:03

@Blossomgate Since when?! I haven't ever heard that. It was a proper grammar a few years ago as I knew someone who got in there via an 11+

CheriLittlebottom · 15/04/2020 20:07

Lived in Leeds for over ten years, in a lot of the areas mentioned here.

North West Leeds - you want to be in Horsforth. Traffic is awful but you can get the train in to the city. Horsforth School is good.

North East Leeds - either Roundhay or Alwoodley. But if state schools are on the cards DEFINITELY Alwoodley. Allerton High is the secondary school there and it is brilliant. Don't know how likely you'd be to get in though, I would guess it's oversubscribed. Roundhay School is good but it has a quite deprived catchment. Roundhay itself is lovely but very small and it borders much dodgier areas, so the school isn't the lovely leafy place it looks like from the outside. Most families living in the big houses in Roundhay send their kids to GSAL (Grammar School at Leeds, fee paying).

If I had your budget I'd go for Ilkley.

Ouchiebum · 15/04/2020 20:08

Saltaire would be perfect for you. Proper village. Walkable shops. Good schools. On the line to Leeds. Much more boho than Ilkley.

Only other thing you may want to think about is how often you will be going south. I’ve lived in northish Leeds and south of Leeds. Connections to the south are way way better from south of Leeds. You can add an hour easily to your journey being north of Leeds. May be worth considering villages south of Leeds eg Denby Dale or Wakefield

Blossomgate · 15/04/2020 20:10

It hasn't been a grammar for a while.

These are the admission arrangements. www.harrogategrammar.co.uk/school/admissions/joining-at-11/admission-arrangements-2020-21/
No test mentioned.

Looking at the school website - arrangements go back to 2013-2014 - and no mention of admission by test/ability,